Shattered
by Mihi Nomen Est
Summary: Harry and Hermione have been living a happy married life. But when Harry dies, Hermione vows to find the killer.
1. 1

_DISCLSIMER: I do not own any of the characters. They are the property of J. K. Rowling_

I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was five years after my graduation from Hogwarts, and nearly two and a half years after my marriage to the man of my dreams. We were in a state of marital bliss.

He was wearing a blue robe that day. He wore my favorite cologne, Mary's Musk for Men, which I bought for him in Paris at the Witches' convention. His hair was as messy as usual.

I walked up to him. "Harry, will your hair ever lie flat?" I asked as I smoothed his hair.

He laughed. "I doubt it."

"Harry..."

"Yes, dear?"

"Be careful."

"Of course, 'Mione. I always am."

"I know. But being an auror is so dangerous."

A change came over his features and he kissed me. "Have I ever told you why I'm so in love with you?"

"Not recently."

"In that case, I better remind you. You never saw me as the invincible Boy-Who-Lived. You saw me as Harry."

"Harry is much more interesting than the Boy-Who-Lived."

"I love you, Hermione."

"I love you, too, Harry. Oh! Remember that Ron's coming over for dinner tonight. It's his birthday, so be on time."

"I remember. I wouldn't want to miss the Minister of Magic's birthday feast! I'll be home at 5:30 exactly. Bye."

"Bye."

He kissed me and went to work.

I spent the day writing my book, _How to Get Incredibly High Scores on Your N.E.W.T.S._, and getting dinner ready. At five, I changed into dress robes.

5:30 came, but Harry didn't. 5:45, still no sign. It wasn't like him to be late and not tell me. 6:00. No Harry. Ron was supposed to be here by now. Maybe the Ministry was holding him up.

6:15. Ron apparated into the living room. "There you are, Ron! Where's Harry?"

I ran over to hug my best friend. He didn't seem too happy to see me. When I got close, I saw his cheeks were tear-stained. Ron never cried.

"What's wrong, Ron?"

"Oh, Hermione, it's Harry."

"Harry? Is he hurt? Oh my gosh, I have to go see him!"

"He- He's not hurt."

"What were you worrying me about, then?"

"He's worse than that."

"What do you mean?" Even as I spoke those words, I knew what was coming. My stomach started to sink.

"Harry- Harry's dead."


	2. 2

_A/N: Another chapter for you! No reviews yet, but that's okay. I'm working on two fics right now, and I'm beta-ing, so I may be slow updating. Plus, I'll probably work on the other fic more. But I won't abandon. :)__ The chapters may be short, but I don't see the point of putting in a lot of extra filler. I personally hate chapters that change subject often, so I tend to write shorter chapters for that sort of thing._

Chapter 2

"What do you mean he's dead?! I saw him this morning! He can't be dead! It's your birthday!"

"Hermione, believe me. He's my best friend, and my best subordinate. This isn't easy for me. Come. Floo with me to he Burrow. Mum probably has some birthday cake. You need to be surrounded by friends and family. You can't stay here; it will make it worse because everything will remind you of him. Pack enough clothes for a week."

I packed my bags and went with Ron. We arrived in the living room. As Ron had promised, there was cake.

"Oh! Hullo, dears! I wasn't expecting you so soon! Where's Harry?" Molly said.

"You- You haven't told them, have you?" I managed to choke out without crying.

"No. Mum, Harry's- Harry's dead."

"What?! No! Hermione! Let me get some tea," Molly said somewhat incomprehensively.

Molly came back and I sipped some tea. "Naturally, you'll be staying with us. You can have Ginny's old room." Molly declared.

I lost all control. I collapsed on the couch and started crying. "He's not dead. There's been a mistake. This is a nightmare," I suppose I thought if I said those things, they would come true.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. But he's dead." Ron tried to comfort me.

"Are you sure? I want to see the body!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible. All that was left was a pile of ash, his glasses, and this." He held out an object. I grabbed it from him. It was Harry's wedding ring. I read the inscription inside, "Forever yours."

I always wore a chain around my neck that Harry had given me as a birthday present a few years before. I slipped the ring onto the chain. I decided then and there that I would never take off my ring.

I went up to Ginny's room, determined to show a stiff upper lip. I put on my nightgown, and knew I couldn't hold it in any longer. I started crying and screaming and scratching and tearing at my hair. Ron came in. He started hugging me, rocking back and forth saying, "It'll be okay. It'll be okay."

After a little bit, I calmed down. However, I felt a little childish like that. "Shouldn't you be going home to your wife?"

"Shh. I talked to Luna already. We're staying here tonight. Don't worry."

"I still can't believe he's dead. He defeated Voldemort, surely he could escape from a lesser foe. I would almost think he pulled a Peter Pettigrew, but he isn't an animagus."

"Go to sleep now, Hermione." Ron walked out of the room. I knew full well that he and Luna would be checking on me periodically through the night. As soon as he left, I got in bed. I held up the ring on the chain. Through my tears, I vowed, "I find your killer Harry. It may take years. I may die in the process. But life isn't worth living without you. I at least want some closure to you death. I'll find your killer."


	3. 3

A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long to update. You're probably mad that I killed Harry, but oh, well. The chapters in this will probably be pretty short. As to my lone reviewer, I actually hate writing. I'm just bored enough to do it. DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.  
Chapter 3  
The next morning, I started working on the mystery of Harry's death. I took out a piece of parchment, my favorite quill, and some ink. I always took these things with me when I traveled. I started writing out a suspect list.  
I wrote down all Harry's enemies that I could think of, starting with Malfoy. I crossed off his name, because he had died in the final battle. Same with Crabbe, Goyle, and Voldemort. Several were in Azkaban for life. My list ended up looking like this: Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Voldemort, Quirrell, Snape, Pettigrew, Crouch, the Dursleys, Bellatrix Lestrange, Parkinson, Zambini, Clyde, Johnson, Scott, Andrews, Moore, Carleton, Compton, Wheelock, Davenport, and Rosenberg. I highly doubted that Snape or the Dursleys killed him. That left Clyde, Johnson, Scott, Carleton, Compton, Davenport, and Rosenberg. I also had to consider that I didn't know all of his enemies, and it was possible that it was a new enemy he had been pursuing that killed him.  
I pulled some strings at the Ministry, and got location checks for his time of death for the suspects. That was a dead end. They told me that none of them had been anywhere near him. I asked for the case he was working on. He was working on several. They owled me his cases. He was apparently working alone.  
I looked through all his cases. They all seemed normal, except for one. Instance of dark magic had been occurring in various areas of Sussex. I asked Ron where Harry died. Sussex. I knew this case had to be the link. The odd thing about the case was that no one had any idea of who it was. Whoever was doing this was very powerful, and the Aurors couldn't think of anyone who lived in Sussex that powerful.  
I worked on book for a little bit to take my mind off things. Then I flooed to Neville's house.  
"Why, hullo, Hermione. What brings you here?" Ginny Longbottom asked.  
"I need to talk to Neville. Is he here?"  
"Yes. Just give me a second to get him."  
Neville came down the winding stairs. His steps were heavy, and he looked like he hadn't slept. I knew how he felt. I'd slept about one hour the previous night.  
"What is it?" Neville's voice sounded weary.  
"Well, you are- were- a good friend of Harry's, and even if he worked alone, he often told you about his cases. I was wondering if you could tell me about this."  
I handed the plain manila folder over to him. He opened it up, read some of the contents, and his face paled. "Does this have anything to do with his death?"  
"It might. He died in Sussex, and it was the most likely of his cases to kill him. And I just feel like this has something to do with his death"  
"This case went to Harry because he is our best auror. It was a very dangerous case. He wouldn't let anyone else help him because it was too dangerous. We had no clue who it could be. Now that he's dead, I doubt many people will want to take it on."  
"I will."  
"Hermione, you're not even an auror. You can't do this."  
"I helped defeat Voldemort, didn't I? Anyways, I will find his killer, and I have a strong suspicion that our villain here is the murderer."  
"Alright. I'll help you some. But be careful." 


End file.
